Story by Barbara Grady “This is history y’all,” said software engineer Ayori Selassie from the platform at Startup Weekend/Black Male Achievement on Sunday night. “This is the first event that has happened like this in the entire world. So if … Continue reading »

By Morgan Boeder I was sitting in my boyfriend’s room in my pajamas, picking out classes when I opened the email informing me that my school had lost its accreditation and might close its doors next year. It was definitely … Continue reading »

Comments Off on Mind Shift: Are We Taking Our Students' Work Seriously Enough?

Story by Luba Vangelova In the course of studying different aspects of children’s environments, Dr. Roger Hart noticed that “a lot of supposedly participatory projects had a distinct air of tokenism. Children were being put on display, so to speak, … Continue reading »

Comments Off on Mind Shift: Low-Income Schools See Big Benefits in Teaching Mindfulness

Story by Katrina Schwartz On his first day teaching at Coronado Elementary School in Richmond, Calif., students threw rocks at Jean-Gabrielle Larochette, pretending he was a police officer. He spent fifteen minutes of every class calming down a handful of … Continue reading »

Story by Jill Tucker Like a firm rap on the knuckles with a ruler or a backside paddling, suspending students for bad behavior is increasingly becoming passe in public schools across California and the nation. For starters, it doesn’t really work, … Continue reading »

Story by Jason Paladino and Jennifer Chaussee Music producers, DJs and vocalists make up the Oakland-based nonprofit Today’s Future Sound, which teaches music production to students in K-12 schools around the bay and beyond. In its infancy, TFS was a … Continue reading »

Story by Liza Veale Rani Coager and Seyed Amiry believe the current model of financing institutions of higher learning is unsustainable. It has created a population paralyzed by debt and a skills gap that leaves too many un(der)employed despite the … Continue reading »

Story by Karl Hatch In November, a Community Study Group was organized in Oakland to examine the role of the school library in today’s technological world. The culminating event of this effort was the January “Imagining A New Future for … Continue reading »

By Femi Ajala His autism diagnosis devastated Youth Radio’s Femi Ajala. Then, he discovered his superpower. Listen to his story here. Listen to Perspectives on air at KQED Public Radio every weekday morning at 6:06am, 7:35am and 11:30pm and weekends … Continue reading »

Comments Off on Even Odds: Fighting the odds for Oakland's young black males

Story by Jill Tucker It was the first Monday in May, and Thomas Logwood was heading to class. There were just six weeks until the end of the school year at Castlemont High inOakland, and every week seemed to bring another … Continue reading »

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About American Graduate

American Graduate is a public media initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help local communities across America find solutions to address the dropout crisis. The initiative builds on public media’s long-standing commitment to education by convening conversations and strengthening partnerships between public radio and television stations and local schools, businesses and community organizations to help students stay on the path to a high school diploma.